Launch of Boxee Box Delayed to November

The Boxee Box, a set-top box created in partnership with D-Link to host Boxee’s web video streaming software, is facing a setback.

The release of Boxee’s hardware has been pushed back to November from the earlier target of June.

“The original plan was to have the Box out by the end of Q2 (i.e. just about now), but that time-frame proved overly ambitious,” Boxee CEO Avner Ronen wrote on the company blog.

Boxee showed the gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. The company didn’t reveal pricing for the device but said it estimates it to be around $200.

The delay is likely to pit the Boxee box squarely against Google TV. Google announced a set-top box platform based on the Android operating system that would integrate cable TV programming with web video. Google has partnered with Sony, Logitech and Intel to create the hardware that it says will be available in retail stores this fall.

Till its partnership with D-Link earlier this year, Boxee seemed content to offer its software as a free download to users. Most Boxee users install the software on their computers and hook the PC to a TV. Boxee’ software can also run on Apple TV.

But a software-only application does limit Boxee’s reach as it can be intimidating to users who don’t want to get their hands dirty with the set up.

Ronen says Boxee has set some ambitious goals for itself.

“Our vision is to make the Boxee experience on a set top box as good as (and where we can, better than) the one you already know on a PC,” he says. “The goal is to play HD videos from the web or a local network in 1080p and use hardware acceleration whenever possible.”

Boxee also wants to offer a TV browser experience that can handle Adobe’s Flash 10.1.

“Not to mention making all this happen for an affordable price and on a quiet device that will not feel obsolete 12 months after you buy it,” says Ronen.